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Von Billma
But 12,000 years changed any language so much that the untutored would doubt that there was any relationship among the various branches which had evolved from it. Thus, the nonlinguist finds it difficult to believe that English, Russian, and Hindustani sprang from the same parent tongue. And the parent was only 3,500 years old. How much more degeneration in 12,000 years?
'The theory, which is entirely unbacked by evidence, is that the Basque tongues of our day are the last descendants of a vast superfamily which once existed all over Europe and perhaps in North Africa and parts of Asia,' Robert said. 'But the rise of Indo-Hittite speakers swept away most of the Ur-Basque speakers. A small group, or small groups, of Indo-Hittites in the area near the Elbe River expanded. And through conquest and absorption imposed their dialects on other areas. And these changed, in time, to become the parents of the Germanic, Slavic, Baltic, Italic, Hellenic, Hittite, Tocharian, Armenian, and Indie tongues, and God knows what others that history does not record. That is why I am so eager to go to that area and determine if I can find languages which could be pre-Indo-Hittite. Then the expedition in 8000 B.C. can get later specimens. Then we can establish some sort of glottochronology!'
Von Billma
There was an ethical point to consider in his proposal. It was one thing to drug and capture men who attacked. But did the scientists have the right to track down human beings and imprison them even if it was only for a while? And for the sake of science, of course?
Gribardsun said that they had only four years here, and that their time was so limited that they could make only a spot check here and there. They could not resolve the existence of widespread pre-Basque speech if they were overly scrupulous about the aborigines'rights.' He meant to get specimens. After all, they would be treated well, and he would load them down with meat when he released them.
Rachel objected. She said that one man had died of shock just from being imprisoned. It was likely that what had happened once would happen again.
'That was only because I wasn't prepared for such an event,' the Englishman said. 'I have the drugs to counteract shock, and at the first symptom of an alarm syndrome, I'll use the drugs.'
Rachel did not like it, but she gave in. Drummond said that these people would all be dead in a short time anyway, and that the benefits to science overrode any small inconvenience the aborigines might have.
'Would you say that if some time traveler from A.D. 3000 put you in a cage for scientific study?' Rachel said.
'Sure I would. I might not like the practice, but I would never refute the theory.'
Gribardsun, von Billma
'If we start discrimination, we'll end up not taking any specimens,' von Billma
He was evidently having second thoughts.
'The woman may have a baby which is being taken care of temporarily by a neighbor or an old woman,' the Englishman said.
'The children will be horribly frightened,' von Billma
Gribardsun smiled, shrugged, and stepped out from behind the big rock. The woman saw him first. Screaming, she dropped her firewood, grabbed her children's hands, forcing them to drop their wood, and ran away. The four men followed her slowly, and by the time they reached the camp, they were confronted by a dozen armed warriors, howling defiance and shaking spears and stone axes.
Establishing peaceful relations with this tribe took time, of course. But a display of two colorful and loud shots from a Very gun quietened them down. Gribardsun approached them making signs of peace. It so happened that none of his signs agreed with theirs, but they understood the intent back of them. And though it took three days before the travelers could approach a tribesman without the person begi
Their own tribe finally overcame their suspicious hostility and mingled with the other for a while. But this put such a strain on everybody that Gribardsun requested the Wota'shaimg to stay away from the strangers.
Von Billma
After two weeks, the scientists led the Wota'shaimg away. But they made contact with another tribe farther south, the largest unit encountered so far. This consisted of eighty individuals, and they used hardwood boomerangs. Moreover, their speech was obviously related to the Wotagrub of the north. Von Billma
It was during this time that the scientists began to have trouble with Dubhab.
Dubhab was a friendly man, usually smiling and joking. But behind the jesting was a determination to get all he could from everybody he met. Dubhab was the ancestor of all con men. And he was exceedingly ambitious. Unlike the others, he was not content with his position in the tribe. He might never have tried to move out of his place in the pecking order if the four strangers had not shown up. But from the begi
Gribardsun had explained as well as he could within the technically limited vocabulary of the Wota'shaimg. And he had permitted Dubhab to handle the firearms and to shoot animals several times.
This was a mistake. The other authorities, jealous, asked to use the guns. Gribardsun saw that it would not be good if the tribesmen overcame their awe of the thunder sticks, as they called them. They might actually try to seize them and turn them on the scientists, though this did not seem probable, since the tribesmen knew that the four strangers had many other resources. And they also regarded them as not quite human; as being, in essence, spirits in flesh.